1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication terminal, a portable terminal, a circulating server, a providing server, an electronic book distributing method, and an electronic book distributing program.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, electronic books (also called e-books (trademark)), which are superior in portability and searchability to books of paper media and which can contain records of sound, are in practical use. The electronic books are digitized books which can be purchased and read by use of such terminals as personal computers and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistances). The electronic books are roughly classified into two types depending upon provided forms, a package type in which book data is stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, an FD, or the like, and a network type in which book data is transmitted and received through networks such as the Internet.
Particularly, the following operation form is the mainstream about the electronic books of the network type. Namely, a user of a portable terminal purchases an electronic book coupon from a circulating server managed by an issuer of the book coupon. Then the user uses the electronic book coupon thus purchased to download a desired electronic book from a providing server managed by a publisher of the electronic book, into the portable terminal. The portable terminal displays the electronic book thus downloaded, whereby the user can read it.